Drug czar: Face problem internationally
By Eric Swedlund
arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.24.2008
advertisementSouthern Arizona faces the "double problem" of drug abuse within its own communities and the devastating effects of the violent international drug trade as it slices through the region, the U.S. "drug czar" said Friday.
John P. Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, met privately with law-enforcement officials before joining U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Tucson Police Chief Richard Miranda and community leaders in a forum to discuss legislation aimed at combating illegal drugs. At the core of the proposed Merida Initiative is a $1.4 billion multiyear commitment to provide equipment, training and technical assistance to authorities in Mexico and Central America.
"You pay the price for the demand for drugs everywhere north of here in the United States," Walters told the group, gathered at the Tucson Police Department's Downtown headquarters.
"When you challenge powerful criminal organizations, their result is to turn to violence. They're willing to do anything. You are not going to bargain with them. They have to be stopped and apprehended," he said.
Walters said the aid south of the border is crucial to reducing the violence associated with drug trafficking. He said Mexican President Felipe Calderón has shown a willingness to work with the United States.
"These killers, these people willing to do anything, can't be stopped by me or President Bush or Representative Giffords or any of you," Walters said. "They have to be stopped by President Calderón. Ultimately, Mexico has to solve Mexico's problem."
Giffords said the legislation, which was passed last week by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on which she sits, has been improved from its original form by including accountability measures.
"My concern is that we are on the front line of drug trafficking. Literally and figuratively, we are on the front lines of this national crisis here in Southern Arizona," said Giffords, a Democrat whose district covers Southern and Southeastern Arizona and includes 114 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Initially the bill didn't provide for enough consultation with local law-enforcement agencies and lacked a clear manner of coordination between various agencies, as well as transparency and measurable benchmarks.
Giffords said she worked with committee Chairman Howard Berman, D.-Calif., to match foreign assistance funding with requirements for international coordination and to assure that some resources come back to Southern Arizona for work on this side of the border, including efforts to stop the illegal flow of guns from the United States into Mexico.
"We have a lot of local law-enforcement success stories right here, and I want to make sure we can expand on those," Giffords said.
Amnesty International pointed to several concerns with the legislation, chiefly that Mexican law-enforcement and military officials have a history of human-rights abuses and corruption.
"Aid for Mexico must not be a blank check for Mexican security forces that have been implicated in crimes like rape and torture," said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA. "If the authorization bill does not include strong human-rights safeguards, the United States would be sending the wrong message to Mexican security forces at the beginning of this partnership, which could have grave consequences."
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